The UK property market, arguably one of the more aggressive markets over the past decade in terms of investor and home owner appetite to take on debt has turned a corner.

Yesterday, Abbey, Britain’s third-biggest lender became the last bank to offer 100 per cent mortgage products.

After sky rocketing prices for a number of years some in the industry are expecting prices to fall more than 5 per cent this year, as first time buyers find it more difficult to enter the market and bank standard variable rates rise in line with the new risk paradigm facing lenders.

According to the times in the UK the move by Spanish bank Santander-owned Abbey came as Barclays, the seventh-biggest UK lender, withdrew most of its popular fixed-rate deals from the market.

Last week First Direct, the online arm of HSBC, withdrew all its mortgages.

With the spectre of negative equity, those people who stretched themselves just to get into the market are going to face a tough time ahead, and the problem will be exacerbated by the fact these people have no options to shop around for a better deal.

For many already high-in-debt Brits, the next 12 months will be a telling time.

No one wants to lose their home – and no one wants to do so and still owe a sizeable loan to the bank or mortgage insurer.